Sunday, July 14, 2019

Everyone is disassociating with Epstein

My review of the history of rape and battering in The Better Angels of Our Nature ... The lengthy section lauds feminist writers like Susan Brownmiller who first documented the prevalence of rape and the historic indifference to it, and who called for concerted measures to eliminate it. ...

Given my longstanding distaste for everything Epstein, it’s galling to be publicly associated with him based on some photos and mutual associates, but I suppose this is one of the dubious perquisites of fame (by academic standards). And it’s a particular hazard in the era of social media — last year I was featured in a New York Times op-ed by Jesse Singal called “Social Media Is Making Us Dumber. Here’s Exhibit A”; this year I appear to be Exhibit B.

I do not agree with guilt-by-association, but leftists do. I am not blaming him, but a lot of leftists are portraying Epstein as the world's greatest evil, and blaming everyone connected to him.

This is just another leftist media frenzy over stale and dubious accusations.

They say that a search of his house uncovered some child porn, but that is the surest way to frame someone. The evidence never becomes public, and the target goes to prison for life.

The most interesting question here is how Epstein made his money. He appears to be extremely rich, without any honest source of income. I have never heard of someone making so much money, while being interconnected with a lot of famous people, without any obvious explanation. Now there are rumors that he was an extortionist, blackmailer, con man, swindler, etc. I assume that we will find out the sources, as the feds are good at tracing money. They may not figure out why others were willing to invest money with such a goofball. Did we ever get an explanation of why people trusted Bernie Madoff?